Week after week this column espouses the importance and value of marketing your tourism business on-line:  web sites, email, search engines, social media, on-line travel agencies (OTAs), etc., etc.  For sure, the Internet does provide the most cost effective way to reach and influence would-be clients of your property or business. It’s high tech, but it’s also ‘low touch’ from a service perspective.

Recent studies – and our own experience running the only locally-based reservations contact center in the Turks & Caicos –  have shown that as ubiquitous, easy  and popular as on-line shopping is, particularly for travel-related services, consumers are gravitating back to ‘old fashioned’ channels when it comes time to make a travel purchase.

Leading travel industry research firm PhoCusWright reports that leisure travelers especially (i.e. the type that we try to attract to Turks and Caicos),  will more often pick up the phone and want to talk live to someone when they are close to making a final purchase decision. The main reasons they take the extra step instead of opting to simply click though an on-line process? Better service and the perception they may be able to negotiate a better deal, the survey says.

PhoCus Wright’s research has shown that while the Internet is certainly a widely used medium for travel research, “online travel traffic saw fewer than half of online searchers turning into buyers; and nearly none of these online buyers reported their preference of a site translating into buyer loyalty.” 

 
For a destination like Turks and Caicos, which is relatively unfamiliar to many tourists, even those with Caribbean experience under their belt, nothing beats the comfort and satisfaction of talking to someone who really knows the place. We see that every day at Wired Island. Potential visitors call or instant message (IM) us (yes, technically IM is an on-line channel but the lines have been blurred with the popularity of voice/text services like Skype and MSN Messenger) to ask all sorts of off-the-wall questions, the answers to which may not be easily found on a web site or from a remote call center that’s representing tens, if not hundreds of destinations and properties. They value the extra level of service a live person familiar with the destination can deliver – tips on restaurants, attractions and events; advice on specific locations and beaches around the islands;  insider advice on getting around – the type of information that’s very difficult for someone not based here to offer, and certainly not available through automated booking channels.

The experience of talking to a live person also reassures travelers when something changes or goes wrong with their trip – knowing that resolution to their problem is just a phone call away.

With the plethora of Internet based marketing channels and programs to consider, many tourism businesses may be tempted to neglect the importance of their offline channel. Staffing your reservation desk with junior or untrained staff, or for only limited hours may be costing you dearly in missed opportunities to close more business. Relying on channels or agents not familiar with Turks and Caicos or that represent multiple destinations (many with better ‘deals’ than TCI offers) can also be a costly mistake.  We spend many hours ‘shopping’ resorts in the TCI to analyze the quality and timeliness of responses, and the results are all over the map – from getting trapped in “voicemail hell”; to unanswered inquires;  to simply getting wrong information.

A well trained (and motivated) reservation staff can add direct benefit to your bottom line. Timely, well-informed and relevant responses to inquires can make the difference between a sale and a lost opportunity.  A live agent who is intimately familiar with you property can ‘think on their feet’ and read a client’s objections and hot buttons. A simple tactic such as offering a free room upgrade, an F&B credit, or some other perk to close the deal is far easier to do during a phone or chat session than through an automated booking engine or web site. And the personal touch experienced by your clients goes a lot further toward building loyalty and repeat business.

Fast Company Magazine recently wrote about the trend toward more bookings coming through off-line channels in an article entitled “Offline is the new online”

 "...See, live agents deliver service that online travel agents (OTAs) have never been able to replicate much less replace, despite endless claims to the contrary…the fact is, websites that feature travel bookings don't deliver on the most basic expectation of a travel buyer: offering the best options based on price, schedule, and preferred vendor..."
- Blogger Michael Valkevich, Fast Company, May 28, 2010
 
We are certainly not recommending dumping all your on-line marketing investment and building out a 24-hour call center for your business. After all, your best creative marketing is still needed to get the phones to ring in the first place. But it may be time to do a quick analysis of how your current reservations process works:

• Do you have trained agents staffing your phone lines after hours (after 5PM) and on weekends (research shows these are peak buying periods for leisure products, including vacation travel)
• Are your agents empowered to offer incentives ‘on the fly’ to close a sales or reward a frequent visitor?
• Do you offer a Live Chat or Instant Messenger channel on your web site?
• Are your agents trained to follow up with email and web site inquiries with a phone call?
• Has everyone that may answer your incoming voice traffic/toll free number (e.g. off shore booking agents, centralized branded reservations centers, even local staff) stayed at your resort, experienced all the amenities, or at least gotten a comprehensive tour?
• Do your agents go beyond asking the obvious questions about dates of travel and size of group to ‘warm up’ a prospect (e.g. are you visiting us for a special occasion? Do you have any special interest or activities I can help you with?”?

If the answer to any of those questions is ‘no’ you may want to take steps to improve the quality and effectiveness of your off-line booking channels.  Since it appears “off line is the new online” you could be missing out on a huge opportunity to close more business.